39Yokogawa 100th AnniversaryYasushi Togo, the second president, tried to change Yokogawa’s job classications and oce organizations based on his experience at a large company, but just 18 months later he ceded his work to Tokisuke Yokogawa (Tamisuke’s eldest son) and Tokisuke ocially became the president in 1940. Although orders for aircraft instruments and spark plugs increased dramatically and accounted for nearly 60% of total production volume, Yokogawa’s protability dropped because of the shortage of materials and labor as well as controlled prices.Yokogawa during the WartimeIn December 1941, Japan went to war against the US and Britain. In the following year, an industry association was formed by law to centrally control electric equipment makers. The production and distribution of goods and raw materials, as well as labor were strictly controlled. At the government’s request, Yokogawa started the expansion of the Kichijoji and Koganei factories in 1942 while raising funds from outside, and built three new factories in Okubo (Tokyo), Kawagoe (Saitama), and Tsujido (Kanagawa) in 1943. Although Yokogawa continued to develop new technologies and kept manufacturing industrial instruments on a small scale, work for the military took up almost all of Yokogawa’s resources. The number of regular employees was about 12,000 (16,000 including student labor). Sales for scal year 1944 exceeded 75 million yen, but loans soared to nearly 70 million yen, reecting the downside of war-time management.In 1945, the government issued evacuation orders and Yokogawa had to leave Tokyo and head to distant places, including the foot of Mt. Fuji, where it rented buildings and continued operations.In June 1945, company founder Tamisuke Yokogawa died aged 80, and in less than two months, the war ended.Yokogawa Starts Afresh with One Tenth the Number of EmployeesIn September 1945, the management drew up a reconstruction plan to cut the number of employees to 1,200, newly hire 400, and restart operations at the Kichijoji and Koganei factories. While many companies struggled to survive by making other basic products such as pots and pans, Yokogawa stuck to a policy of not making second-rate products, and transferred equipment and materials from the evacuation sites back to rebuild itself. Meanwhile, in line with the postwar democracy, Yokogawa embraced the movement to form a labor union. A labor union was organized in Yokogawa in January 1946, conrming the bond between labor and management.However, Yokogawa was losing about 2 million yen a month after the war, and was burdened with severance payments to employees who had left Yokogawa, the cost of bringing back materials from the evacuation sites, and other expenditures. Moreover, about three quarters of receivables from the military were nullied. Yokogawa overcame this nancial crisis mainly by collecting other receivables, slashing expenditures, and selling the Tsujido factory.In April 1946, Yokogawa managed to restart manufacturing measuring instruments. Everyone worked hard with determination to help reconstruct Japan by making measuring instruments, a “mother tool” for industry. Yokogawa’s labor union also staged a campaign to increase production. In 1947, while going ahead with screening and standardizing parts to enhance eciency and protability, Yokogawa held an exhibition of its measuring instruments at the Matsuzakaya department store in Ginza, Tokyo to publicize its quality and technology. Thus, Yokogawa embarked on its postwar growth.Advertisement in October 1928 magazineYasushi TogoTokisuke YokogawaElectric dierential pressure owmeter
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